The Department of Justice and HHS announced the results of a nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in 36 federal districts that resulted in a record number of individuals being charged. The DOJ-led Strike Force combines investigative resources of the Federal government that includes the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In addition, 23 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in the arrests. The DOJ noted this coordinated takedown was the largest in history, both in terms of the number of defendants charged and loss amount. The defendants were charged with various health care fraud-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violations of the anti-kickback statutes, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. The charges are based on a variety of alleged fraud schemes involving various medical treatments and services, including home health care, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment (DME), and prescription drugs. More than 60 of the defendants arrested are charged with fraud related to the Medicare prescription drug benefit program known as Part D, which is the fastest-growing component of the Medicare program overall. The schemes involved submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid and the defendants in these cases involved doctors, nurses, licensed medical professionals, health care company owners, and others.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) that has been operating since 2007 as a joint initiative between the DOJ and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. They operate in nine locations and since its inception has charged over 2,900 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $8.9 billion. A summary of where actions were taken in the “Takedown” announced by the DOJ include the following:

Southern District of Florida: 100 charged involving $220 million in false billings.

Southern District of Texas: 24 charged involving $146 million in fraud.

Northern District of Texas: 11 charged involving $47 million in fraud.

Central District of California: 22 charged involving $162 million.

Eastern District of Michigan: 19 charged involving $114 million in false claims.

Middle District of Florida: 15 charged involving $17 million in fraudulent billing.

Northern District of Illinois: six charged involving $12 million in fraud.

Eastern District of New York: 10 charged involving $86.

Eastern District of Louisiana: three charged with a health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy.

Northern District of Georgia: nine charged involving $7 million in fraudulent billings.

Middle District of Alabama: two charged involving $246,000 in fraudulent billings.

Middle District of Tennessee: doctor charged in kickback with DME company.

Western District of Kentucky: charge of a business entity a health care fraud scheme.

Southern District of Ohio: two charged involving a $7.5 million fraud scheme.

Western/Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania: three charged for drug diversion and embezzlement.

Southern District of New York: pharmacist charged involving $51 million in fraud.

Districts of Maine, Alaska, Kansas, Connecticut and Vermont: five charged for Medicaid-related schemes.

Eastern District of Missouri: four charged involving $3 million in billings.

Southern District of California: eight charged involving $27 million in fraudulent claims.

District of New Mexico: two charged in a Medicaid fraud scheme.

Northern District of Iowa: a corporate settlement agreement for health care fraud scheme.

District of Oregon: one charged involving $1.7 million fraud scheme.

District of Puerto Rico: six received civil demand letters for their roles in a Medicaid fraud.

Richard P. Kusserow served as DHHS Inspector General for 11 years. He currently is CEO of Strategic Management Services, LLC (SM), a firm that has assisted more than 3,000 organizations and entities with compliance related matters. The SM sister company, CRC, provides a wide range of compliance tools including sanction-screening.